


Blood Transfusions

by Belfire



Series: With Family Like This Who Needs Joker? [4]
Category: Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: And Jason's cousins are definitely related to him, Dick doesn't understand, Dysfunctional Family, Gang Violence, Gang War, Gunshot Wounds, Jason is undead, Long Lost/Secret Relatives, Protectiveness, bad right?, but the adoptive family are about to find out, his blood family does though, like eats things a zombie for example might eat, now for some real tags, oh and his adoptive family has no idea, which means he does "undead" things in secret, yeah - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-06
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-05 18:37:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18371792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Belfire/pseuds/Belfire
Summary: "Jason - why the fuck do you have human heads in your fridge?!" Dick's scream made Jason freeze and turn on his heel to see his brother staring with wide horrified blue eyes into the refrigerator he left ajar. The door must've opened enough to see. Crap.Slowly, wordlessly, Jason raised a handful of the squidgy pink and grey brain mush  from the bowl to his mouth and ate it. A good explanation was processing while he chewed. Trust him, it was. It would just take a second."Uhm.... those aren't mine?"





	1. Those Severed Heads? Yeah, Those Aren't Mine

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RandomReader13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RandomReader13/gifts).



> Well, swamp monkeys, I got no idea where the fuck this came from but turns out watching Santa Clarita Diet and thinking about this series is a bad combo.
> 
> To my most random reader, RandomReader13, your enthusiasm and reactions are exactly what a bitch needs sometimes XD

Ma sighed. She gazed at the drastic drop in her earnings charts and she sighed again, quietly beneath her breath.

"Seems like one day, you're teaching them to walk and making sure they don't choke on bubble wrap and the next, they're trying to steal away your criminal empire." She mused mostly to herself, her hands tightening slightly around the crinkly edges of the chart, wrinkling the frail paper.

" _Try_  would imply he wasn't successful," Willis added unhelpfully, rocking back on his heels where he stood a safe meter or two from his mother, not out of her firing range if she decided to go through with her threats, of course. Left in the dark about why he was here, he could estimate it had something to do with his gang leader crime lord son, about the only connecting bridge between him and Ma.

"And to think, if I'd dropped you on your head from a higher altitude than just the kitchen counter, I wouldn't be having this problem with  _your_  son." 

At this point, Willis was too used to hearing jibes like that one to be affected by them, ignoring it was beyond nature to him.

"Ma, you practically  _groomed_  Jason to be your successor since he was nine-years-old. You can't be surprised that he's taking after."

"I can do exactly as I want."

"Well," he rolled his eyes, "you certainly passed that onto my son."

"Shut up and  _listen_ ," she growled, scowling. "I want you to  _control_  him. 

Willis almost choked on the laugh and didn't bother to immediately take it back when her expression set harder on him.

" _Sure_  - would you like me to add that to the list of things that are  _impossible_  while I'm at it?"

By the narrowing of her cold grey eyes, the comment was not appreciated and judging from the twitch of her trigger finger, she wanted to blow a hole in him then and there. She'd shot him before, there was no doubt whether or not she would do it again if it got too hard to hold onto restraint. 

"I don't want to have to start a war with my grandson." Ma said, voice cut with sincerity and he knew she truly meant that. She loved Jason for one reason or other, but there was nothing she wouldn't do for her criminal empire.

Willis shrugged.

"He's counting on that."

* * *

 

A burst of dull pain thudded through his side when he hit the ground but Jason was back on his feet almost at the second of impact, rolling behind the cover of a tipped aluminium table as gunfire ricocheted off its surface with explosions of sparks. 

"You hit?" The rapid grunt of demand came from his cousin to the left of him, her back pressed hard against the table that was the only thing keeping the cousins protected from the automatic weapons and their wielders. 

"No, but I'm out." He dropped the emptied clips from his guns, useless to him now that he'd used up all of his ammo. How was he supposed to anticipate the second wave of Penguin's men, lurking just beyond the first? And now he and Isabella were in the lowest floor of the Iceberg Lounge, cut off from the others by a wall of enemies,  out of firepower -  _oh_ , and she was shot through the leg. One word;  _fuck_.

" 'It'll be an in and out job, primos'.  _Fuck_  you and your goddamn ideas." Isabella was  _pissed_. She rolled her eyes hard while she gripped her calf, blood leaking betwixt her fingers in a steady flow. Jason did  _not_  hold her to blame for being annoyed they were here, he was peeved at himself for underestimating the enemy and getting them trapped.

"Sorry." He mumbled but it went unheard over the gunfire, which was just as well since she wouldn't have accepted the apology.

He took a massive risk by rapidly glancing over the table's edge, almost getting clipped in the head while he did but there was fruit from the effort; there were fire extinguishers above the men,  _maybe_.... snatching something off his belt, Jason pulled a pin in his teeth and tossed the smoke grenade over their cover. The moment the smoke erupted, the extinguishers sprayed water in all directions, dousing them in seconds.

"Cuz," Jason's eyes met Isabella's, "I'm gonna have to pick-"

"I will choke you with the dismembered pricks of those armed _assholes_."

"- you up." Jason finished with a sigh and an eye roll, not waiting for another protest to inevitably come before he scooped his cousin into his arms. Izzy hit him because of  _course_ , she did, but she only made it slightly harder to shoot his grapple into the ceiling.

"Hold onto me." He briskly instructed, she obediently locked her arms around his neck and with the flick of a switch, they were zipped up. Jason dropped his five thousand volt tazer into the pooling water and the explosion of light and ear-piercing  _zap_  was something to behold, as were all the bodies writhing and convulsing as torrents ripped them to pieces.

Jason's arm burned around the rotator cuff while he held both of them meters from the ground that would kill them if they set foot on it, just like it killed those men. The lights were flickering violently, damaged by the taser, when Jason started pulling them up the rope, teeth grit. Isabella's grip around him tightened, she glanced down at the death trap he'd caused and muttered something offensive in Spanish.

There was an air vent overhead, Jason dragged them to it meter by meter, hand over hand, until it was within reach. Isabella did the next part, she climbed up Jason's body, onto his shoulders so she could use both hands to push the vent cover off. Grunting, she pulled herself into it and helped him up when she positioned herself right.

"Thanks." He panted, beads of sweat rolling down his brow from the strain his body nearly shook from. Over four hours of fighting, he was beginning to feel it.

The vent was _tight_ , Izzy was smaller than him and she just barely fit. To say the least, it was uncomfortable in these metal walls, hot from their heavy breaths and the stench of her blood didn't make it any better.

"Now where, idiot?" Isabella demanded, eyes narrowed and glazed over by a thick haze of pain. Every other breath was a stifled whimper. She looked pale, too pale for his liking. Jason fumbled through his utility belt for clotting gel, popping the cap the moment he found it and stretched her leg out by her ankle.

"Hold still." He instructed, for once happy that her calves and half of her thighs were covered by meagre fishnet stockings, they made it significantly easier to find her wound and fill it. She bit back a noise of pain while the pure white gel turned pink, swelling and creating a firm blockage to hold her remaining blood in. It would be good enough until they could get some stitches in her.

"We have to regroup with Diego and Francesca." Isabella panted, doing her all to admirably push aside her obvious, understandable pain. What a team player.

"They're on the first floor. We have ten levels of concrete and guards between us. Jesus -  _why_  does Penguin have subterranean levels in a  _night club_?" 

"Why did  _you_  think it was a good idea to come for him in his own castle? He has the upper hand here."

"Sí, I noticed." Jason grumbled and jumped when a bullet burst through the bottom of the vent, right between them. Both of them got a fright, their widened eyes met and wordlessly, agreed they had to get the hell out of here. Another wave of guards had found their way to the massacre below, yelling and firing guns.

"Where the fuck did Hood go?!" One of them yelled, yet to realise Jason and Isabella were in the vents above them, which meant the bullet was a misfire. Good. Better like that.

"This way." Jason steered her to the right fork, the one he was sincerely hoping lead them to somewhere they could reload and regroup with the others. At this point, he had abandoned the original plan of taking Penguin's establishment down for their own uses because getting out alive was proving to be challenging enough as it was. Jason had to get her out of here, he would figure out a way to take what he wanted later.

"So how's Mariano?" Jason idly asked while they crawled along and judging by the harsh scoff, her most recent boyfriend wasn't a welcome subject. Jason and Francesca had a bet going how many weeks those two would stay together, he didn't win. He gave them too much confidence 

"He cheated on me with a crack whore. I chopped his dick off with bolt cutters and we went our separate ways.... Just like him and his dick."

".... Yikes." Okay, so Jason knew Mariano was as dumb as a fucking shoe but actively  _cheating_  on Red Hood's right hand? The ruthless bitch who sent more men running than the ganglord she worked for? That was planned suicide. That was just - haha,  _wow_. Idiot.

There was another vent cover ahead, it seemed to lead into a storage space, Jason lifted it open and made it a point to drop onto the crates beneath them before her. Her busted leg couldn't take the impact.

"Izzy, I know you're gonna hate this," he raised her hands to her, she sat on the edge of the opening he came from.

"But I'm gonna have to lift you."  Her face turned sour but she didn't argue when the necessity was so obvious, she carefully slid into his waiting hands. With a grunt, Jason hoisted her down and carried her off the crates bridal style. He jumped the last one, a thud went through both of them and she cursed him again for the umpteenth time. The jolt caused her to wince and draw a hissing breath of pain.

"I will make you  _eat_  your mother's sex toys, you red hooded fuck-faced snowflake  _bitch_." Isabella grit her teeth, arms tightening around his neck. It was because of Jason that she got hurt, he took the flow of insults in stride.

"My mother is dead." Jason replied subtly, crossing the room and sitting her down gently by the door. He'd let that threat go along with the others.

"Even  _better_." She muttered while Jason barred the opening in case Penguin's goons came looking this way.

"We need to get to the surface floor." He sighed when he sat heavily on the floor beside her, really needing a moment to catch his breath. This definitely wasn't the biggest mess he'd ever gotten himself into but this time, it wasn't only his life at risk. He got his cousins in danger too and now it was up to him to get them out.

"The stairs are flooded with guards." Isabella added, as exasperated as him despite verbally chewing him up.

"The elevator maybe?" Jason suggested. "If we climb up the shaft, we can avoid cameras."

His cousin gestured sharply to her leg. "I  _can't_  climb, idiot."

"I'll carry you."

"Up seven storeys? You aren't fucking Superman."

"I'll worry about me, Iz." He told her, sincere despite he'd calculated the strain of the next leg of this mess would be massive on his body after four hours of nonstop fighting. He'd do it because he had to.

He was getting hungry, anyway, and that always made him extra resilient. He hadn't eaten all day, hunger stirred within him, waking a beast he would rather keep sleeping. Shit. He really needed to get them out  _now_.

"We have to go." Jason got up, helped her up too and she realised the note of urgency.

"You're hungry, aren't you?" She asked while Jason adjusted her against his side, slinging her arm around over his shoulders.

"Yeah." He nodded briskly, unbarring the door and taking a glance out. No one. Good. Tentative but quick, Jason walked them out, down the hall towards the way he assumed the elevator was. He could tell Isabella was anxious now that she knew he was fatigued, she was aware why that was bad.

Isabella leaned on the wall to keep herself upright while Jason pried the elevator doors open with his knife, stuffing it back into his holster when he made a space big enough to fit through. It was empty, just a steeply rising shaft that reached the surface floor.

"Let's go." Jason held her against himself again, making sure she had a firm hold of him before he jumped to catch the cables that were responsible for moving the elevator. Without his gloves, the coarse steel would have torn his palms open as he started pulling himself and Isabella up. His muscles tensed rock solid, the weight of his cousin added to his own body mass making it no easy thing to do with how tired he was but he  _had_  to.

"Just a little longer." Isabella said with an undertow of encouragement she would never make blatant, her personality wouldn't allow it. Her arms tightened around him.

"Diego could do this with one arm, you bitch snowflake." Ah, there was the Isabella he knew and loved.

"Fuck's sake, Abuela is more capable than you."

"That's because she's  _Abuela_." Jason pointed out with a grunt of effort, meter after meter dragging them closer to the top. Izzy wasn't really chiding him, this was just her best way of being supportive.

"She's beat the hell outta Batman - something  _I_  can't do."

"That's because she's  _Abuela_." Izzy said and he agreed with a hum, strained but they were almost at the top. Almost there. When the last door was within reach, Jason began swinging them to and fro, closer to the edge with every motion. He let go of the cable at just the right moment to latch onto the ledge when it came. He didn't need to tell her to, Isabella climbed up him, pulled herself onto solid ground and gave him a hand up. He grunted a thank you.

"Abuela coulda did better." She let him know and Jason gave a breathless laugh while he panted, chest heaving, back against the shut doors with his legs over the edge. He just needed a moment to catch his breath. One breath, two, three-

"C'mon," she hit his bicep with the back of her hand.

"We gotta go." Her reminder wasn't necessary, Jason knew that, and he rose with a low groan, holding her hand to pull her up. Together, they got the doors to part and made their way through the first floor, empty of staff given how it was everyone's assumption Hood and his gang were downstairs. 

"Isabella!" From around the corner, Diego, Francesca, and Tomas came running. They'd seen their share of the fight, bruised and bloody here and there, but they were mostly just worried. Francesca and Tomas over their cousin and Diego his little sister. They jogged to her, making sure she was okay and were worried over the blood while Jason stood back a little awkwardly, completely ignored.

"You're  _hurt_." With the realisation, Diego picked his sister up with ease and she didn't say a word of protest.

"It's not serious, hermano." Isabella assured him. "Just a flesh wound."

"We need to get back to HQ." Diego announced, not there for a word Isabella had to say, already making a determined beeline outta the building, Tomas in tow. Silent, Jason watched them go, not even giving Francesca a glance when she came to him.

"You hurt, cuz?" She asked, the only one of them to pay Jason a crumb of attention. Diego was worried about his sister, Tomas was a sheeple who followed the former around like a shadow, it was understandable. 

"No." Jason meekly responded, returning his attention to the scene of carnage. Blood and bodies everywhere, all the guards on this floor were dead but more would be here soon. He had to be quick.

"We'll get Penguin next time." Francesca assured him, following Jason while he took his buck knife to a dead man's neck and started sawing through it. She didn't even flinch when he twisted the head off with a wet pop from the broken spine.

"Yeah, sí, I know." Jason was more focused on stuffing the severed head into a duffel bag he found than replying to her. He went for the next body in his path and did the same thing, gathering a few more heads before he knew he couldn't shut the zipper if he put another in.

Francesca didn't raise a single judgement towards him, she was all too aware of what he was doing and why. She watched him straighten and shoulder the bag.

"Going home?" She asked.

"Yeah, I gotta eat before I hurt someone." That was a very real possibility and they both knew that. She didn't try to stop him when he marched out with the heads, but she did follow after.

"Abuela hasn't said anything about what you're doing?"

"No. We haven't spoken for a bit." Ma was planning a massive siege to take her turf back but not only the small portion he stole from her, but also every bit of his. The Red Hood gang stood strong but one way or another, she would find a way to counter unless he thought of something quick. That's why he desperately needed the Iceberg Lounge, it was the tug toy between Ma and him.

"Be careful, cuz. Abuela is dangerous." There was a note of true concern to her voice and though their grandmother was a ruthless ganglord, Jason trusted she wouldn't hurt him. She cared about him, something his father didn't understand.  It was amusing, Willis actually spent hours trying to figure out Ma's angle for loving her grandson.

"I'll be fine."

Francesca regarded his confidence with a sceptical glance, mumbling,

"That's what uncle Joe and aunt Trina thought."

"Who's uncle Joe and aunt Trina?" He asked while they stepped out of the wrecked Iceberg Lounge, hurrying before the guards came back. They couldn't take them right now.

And Trina and Joe? He was guessing there were  _even_  more family members dad never felt the need to tell him about. If they tossed the Lasso of Hestia around Willis, Jason wondered what deep dark secrets would be revealed.

"Uncle Joe was Aunt Trina's husband, Trina was your dad's twin."

"Wait -  _what_?" Jason paused so quickly and abruptly he almost dropped his bag of heads.

"Dad has a  _twin_?"

" _Had_." She corrected. "She's been dead for twenty years. Her, Uncle Joe and their son died when Killer Croc snacked on them. Very tragic."

Jason pinched the bridge of his nose, white-knuckled, exhaling from the bottom of his lungs. What. The fuck. Was wrong with his dad? Wasn't that _at all_ worth mentioning?

"Aunt Trina got pregnant when she was fifteen," Francesca began, sensing he wanted to know. "And Abuela told her to abort it. She refused to and as a result, got kicked out. She lived on the streets for a few months but a chance encounter with an acrobat called Joe meant that soon, she had a place to stay with the circus passing through Gotham. Joe and Trina got hitched and he treated her son like his own."

"Oh, that's so  _nice_  - now why the fuck did Croc  _eat_  them?" That was the part of this story that interested him much more than the lovey-dovey crap. But he'd like to know why dad never mentioned a twin sister.

"I'm getting to that," Francesca snapped a silencing leer to him. "Abuela found out Trina was with the circus and she sent Croc to bring her daughter back despite sending her away, to begin with. Something went wrong and Croc killed all three of them. Their son was  _ten_." Oh.... Okay, that made Jason feel bad. Violently dying at the hands of a criminal for something that had nothing to do with you? Seems they should start a club.

"After that, uncle Willis was done with Abuela, even if she didn't mean to get his sister killed. That's why he doesn't like her - or, the biggest reason, at least." Holy shit.... Was dad really  _justified_  in his feud with Ma? Jason had never imagined such a thing and honestly.... It was some pretty horrific shit that happened. He didn't think.... That his dad actually had a life before he existed, childish as that sounded.

"Did.... Abuela regret Trina's death?" Jason couldn't imagine Ma  _didn't_ , however, she was notorious for never showing emotion. The most she ever revealed was embracing him the night in the alley when....

"Yeah, I'm sure she did but Abuela doesn't let anyone in on what she's thinking. Your dad had a fight with her about Trina but I don't know what was said and done."

"Well, knowing  _dad_...." Jason trailed off on the implication and Francesca agreed with a wholehearted nod. Willis was argumentative. 

"Trina's son was called Jason, by the way."

Jason choked and that time, he did drop the bag of heads.

"What?!  _Why_?!"

She shrugged. "Don't know. You were born the year Trina died, probably has something to do with it. I'd ask your dad."

* * *

 

Through his lashes and half-shut eyes, Jason gave a sigh when he finished cracking the skull of the severed head on his kitchen counter, more focused on everything he learned today than spooning dinner out of the cranium. He filled a bowl with brain matter and put the rest of the head into the fridge with the others, leaving the door ajar. He was too deep in thought to fix it. 

After the Lazarus Pit, wouldn't you know it, the undead have to eat brains to remain sane and in control of their actions. Talia said there was a chemical in the human brain that stabilised the insanity side of what the Pit did to you, Ra's didn't take it but Jason sure as hell wanted to hold his own reigns.... plus it didn't taste like anything, so no harm, no foul. Just had to make sure the Bats didn't find out and he was golden.

But he wasn't thinking about that right now. More secrets, more fucked up twists and turns that made him rethink everything he knew for a countless time. Family was a Pandora's box he probably should have never opened, but fuck, if he didn't love having it. Finally someone he could trust with things no one else knew. With the exception of Talia, only his cousins were aware he more or less had to cannibalise to not go bat shit and he got  _no_  judgement for that.

Bruce, Dick, Tim, and the others, they would chew him to bits for it. Not his cousins, though. No, they didn't see him as the family's gunslinging lunatic. He was just a gunslinging lunatic among others.

"Little wing!"

Jumping in fright, Jason almost dropped his bowl of brains when Dick was suddenly behind him, catching him in a crushing embrace before he could fight back. 

"I've been tryna contact you for ages! I haven't seen you for four  _months_! Bruce is  _pissed_  at you for - did you start a  _gang_  war? With your  _grandma_? Jesus, Jason, why did you start a  _gang_  war?!" It appeared as if though Dick finally figured out where he wanted to go with this one-sided non-consensual conversation he initiated, stepping back from the unrequested hug and staring at Jason in an entirely different light, the sort that bordered on disappointed big brother more than he liked.

"You brought the Red Hood gang back into arms, started a turf war and you haven't spoken to your family in months? What the hell is going on with you?" 

Taking his time to swallow that last savoury bite of brain matter he'd already had in his mouth, Jason set the bowl behind him on the counter, pressing the small of his back against the edge of it to hide if from Dick's line of sight. He did  _not_  have to explain himself to the golden boy.

"I'm a crime boss, Dick, we know this. I wanted more turf so I took it." He simply explained with a notable amount of curtness to his tone but it was either not picked up on or completely ignored. Giving Jason a serious face, Dick's hands landed on his hips like he was about to go into a lecture.

"Bruce says you run off when he tries to confront you about this madness. He also said your biological dad is totally outta the loop as to what you're doing." 

"So?" Jason shrugged, uncaring. "It's none of their business. I do what I want."

"They're your  _parents_." Dick insisted like it made a crumb of difference.

"My adoptive father let me get killed, my birth father abandoned me, my adoptive mother used me as an ashtray and my birth mother traded my life for a shipment of drugs. No hard feelings, it's all good but I don't think they have any right to tell me how I should live my life." Jason's eyes narrowed on Dick, holding him captive in the cynical look.

"And neither do you so fuck off." 

Unphased, Dick's hands moved off his hips and crossed over his chest, shifting from leaning on one leg to the other, expression totally unchanging from the stern big brother thing.

"You tried to hijack the Iceberg Lounge today and were nearly captured and  _killed_. This is getting out of hand, Jason, and you need to stop before someone gets hurt."

"I know what I'm doing." He insisted and not without bite to his words.

" _Do_  you? You've started a turf war between every gang in Gotham and yourself. Two-Face, Penguin, Black Mask, etcetera, people who have the resources to team up and  _murder_  you. If they put their brains together and all come for you at once, you're toast." 

"I have my own gang."

"You have  _five_  people including yourself. You. Are.  _Endangering_  your life." 

Jason scoffed, rolling his eyes and made his way out of the kitchen in the hopes he wouldn't have to have this conversation with  _Dick_ , of all people. It was hard enough avoiding his dads at all costs because they had a thing or two to say about his gang activities. Bruce didn't even know he was doing it with his family so there's another thing he would have a field day with. Sure, Willis and Bruce spoke but bio-dad liked to keep as much to himself as possible, Trina was a good example of that.

"Jason -  _why_  the fuck do you have human heads in your fridge?!" Dick's scream made Jason freeze and turn on his heel to see his brother staring with wide horrified blue eyes into the refrigerator he left ajar. The door must've opened enough to see.  _Crap_.

Slowly, wordlessly, Jason raised a handful of the squidgy pink and grey brain mush  from the bowl to his mouth and ate it. A good explanation was processing while he chewed. Trust him, it was. It would just take a second.

"Uhm.... those  _aren't_  mine?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't take credit for something that wasn't my idea, adding Trina and Joe and their little Jason was suggested by the spectacular Kingsdaughter613. I honestly loved that idea too much to pass by. I know Trina being the aunt isn't exactly what you asked for, I had to change it around a bit to make it suit but I hope it works for you, friend :)


	2. No One Will Fucking Believe You

Jason rolled his eyes when Dick threw up again and he took an unsympathetic spoonful of grey matter from the cracked head nestled in the crook of his arm. As satisfying as it was to see the golden boy bent over a toilet, it was getting a little annoying after twenty minutes. Yes, he ate brains, so the fuck what? It's not like Mr Sugar Ass over there didn't have parts of people down his throat, quite recently too, if the fresh hickeys on his neck were any indicator.

"Oh, my _fuck_ , Jason," Dick panted when he lifted his head, sides heaving. He'd really looked better, his normally tan skin was drained sickly white and glistening with a cold sweat.

"You - you just stand there and _eat_ it." He gestured to the severed head with a shaky limb.

"Well, gee, I hadn't noticed." Sarcastic, Jason took a deliberately slow mouthful to emphasise what he was doing. Dick puked again with enough force to rip up his guts.

While big brother was busy, Jason scratched a persistent scrap of grey matter off the side of the cracked and bloody skull with the edge of the silver spoon. He stole the whole set from Wayne Manor's display cabinets, that and some other heirlooms like the Assyrian general's diamond-encrusted scimitar he often used to butter his toast.

"Dick, you're making it into a bigger deal than it is." Jason insisted when Dick straightened slightly, spitting out a thick string of clear bile. His words just hit a nerve, if the rapid way big brother looked up was any indication.

"You are _eating_ someone, Jason!" He gestured wildly to the head he couldn't get over and possessive of his food, Jason's arm tightened around it. A primal part of him wasn't going to let Dick have a chance to take it, just in case.

"He was dead beforehand. I'm just putting him to use."

"After you _shot_ him!"

Jason shrugged. That wasn't untrue but it's not like anyone else was going to take the head. If it weren't for him, it would just rot away.

"Bruce needs to know about this," Dick announced when he could bring himself to rise, be it woozily, and started briskly past Jason.... Or would have if his arm wasn't snatched so abruptly.

"You're not telling him _anything_." Jason hissed into his ear, enunciating the last word and he was a little surprised that Dick flinched at his touch, especially when he was pressed into the doorframe.

"Jay, I can't let you keep cannibalising Gothamites for whatever sick kick you get out of it." His attempt to reason was admirable but he chose his words wrong. Oh _so_ wrong.

"You think I _like_ it?" He spat. "That I crack open skulls just for fun?"

His harsh tone took Dick a little aback, he blinked up at Jason and quickly, he regained his argumentative side.

"Forgive me, Jason, but I fail to see the necessity behind being a _cannibal_."

"Then just _ask_ me why I'm doing this."

Dick took a short calming breath, trying to find his reasonable open-minded side and the fact that he was doing that in this situation was actually admirable.

"Okay - _why_? Why are you eating a human brain? Can you make me understand?" Dick was giving Jason a genuine opportunity to explain himself, clearly he was, but the fact that he was came as so unexpected. _No one_ ever gave him that chance.

"Fuck no! It's none of your fucking business, _dick_."

Loudly, Dick scoffed, half raised his arms like he was going to say something but when it went through how futile that would have been, he dropped them to his sides with a loud clap when they hit his thighs. He yanked his arm loose, successful only because Jason allowed it. 

"Then I can't help you."

"I don't _want_ help." If he'd ever held onto hope of there being a cure for what was wrong with him, he'd quickly abandoned the foolish notion.  Besides, it wasn't as bad as Dick was making it out to be. Just pop a couple of heads open a month and he was good. No hunger-driven fit of rage and no one was in danger of him.... _although_ , Jason could admit he purposefully kept himself a little bit underfed in the field, it made him more capable. Being hungry meant he was extra vicious, extra scary and just all together better in a fight. 

"Sorry, little wing, but the second one of us starts _eating_ people is the second what they want becomes irrelevant. You need some help right the fuck now. Bruce needs to know - Jason, are _you_ the person leaving all those decapitated corpses laying around Gotham?" Dick's eyes got even wider, as if that was somehow possible,  horrified as he was hit by the aftershock of realisation. Those bodies he mentioned had really had the bats scratching their heads for a while now. 

"You weren't going to eat them..." Jason took his time in running his tongue along his teeth while he spoke, namely the points of his canines, maybe it was supposed to be a silent threat. His eyes were already narrowed on dear big brother but he made them narrower still until he felt Dick couldn't be any more unnerved. As assertive as he may be, Dick was obviously very on edge with him right now and who could blame him? There was a hollowed-out human head in the crook of his arm.

" _Jesus_ , Jason," Dick ran his hands through his hair and pulled on the strands. "What am I supposed to do with this information?" 

"How about _nothing_?" Jason didn't have to, he could have well done it without, but he grabbed Dick by his arm again, tighter this time, until his fingers dug into flesh. There was no need to hurt Dick but it might get the point across better. Besides it wasn't _that_ painful.

"Tell anyone about this, and.... I'll fucking eat you too, got it?" The threat wasn't real but he made it sound that way and by the taken aback expression on Dick's face, he couldn't be sure it wasn't true. In all honesty, how could he say for certain that Jason wouldn't just cave his head in and eat its contents? Truth be told, he'd thought about it once or twice.... 

"And you _really_ think Bruce is gonna believe you that I'm scoffing brains?" Jason squeezed around his bicep harder while at a loss, Dick's eyes momentarily swept the floor, seeing how hard to chew his story really was.

"He'll look into it, at least." Dick tried and was met with a sarcastic mock half-laugh from Jason.

"You haven't got a case, goldie. This is just like the time you thought Damian was possessed by Satan-"

"He is!" Big brother insisted, 100% serious. "Sometimes, his eyes just turn solid red, I swear!"

"Oh, I'm sure they do," Jason nodded unsympathetically. "But did Bruce believe you? _No_? He won't with this either, trust me." 

Dick's gaze became completely downcast, he knew the truth behind that statement was unarguable. Fact is, Bruce had a stellar track record when it comes to not listening to how his sons are monsters when it comes from the mouth of a sibling. 

"Well, I can't leave you to eat the whole city."

"I'm not going to eat the whole city, _Richard_." Jason rolled his eyes, losing count of how many times Dick had made him do it.

"There are hundreds of thousands of people in Gotham, I could never go through them all and I don't _hunt_ , I just take some heads from missions here and there." By the way his lips parted, it could be made as a safe and certain assumption that Dick intended to interject something before Jason dropped the skull he'd been holding onto so dearly to scoop big brother up into his arms and against his squirming, carry him to the adjacent kitchen window he came in from.

"Jay - lemme go! I-"

" _I_ have to hurry up and save face after that Iceberg Lounge disaster," Jason briskly explained, lifting Dick out onto the fire escape beneath the window pane.

"And that doesn't leave a whole lotta time to deal with you, so fuck off before I decide I'm hungry again and munch on whatever's in _there_ ," With a rigid index, he poked Dick roughly in the forehead, his head bouncing back a little from the jab. He was met with big blue eyes that could be compared to a sad puppy dog's as he shut the window and with it, Dick out of his apartment. And he yanked the blinds down since he wasn't looking at that damn face that had convinced him so many times to unlock his front door. 

Jason really didn't have the time to explain this situation to Dick right now, not since unless he planned his next move quickly and efficiently, grandma or one of the other gang lords currently not happy with him would jump at the chance to crush him. His biggest concern was that Ma teamed up with the others and ripped his turf away from him, something that he wouldn't be able to do anything to stop.

That Iceberg Lounge catastrophe, there was no doubt Two-Face and Black Mask and Ma Gunn hadn't already heard about it, they would know he majorly fucked up. He made himself look like a stupid reckless _kid_. He needed to retake the Lounge and he needed to do it _now_.

"Word of advice, son? Don't leave your dismembered heads laying around. They're incriminating." By this point, Jason didn't get frightened when his dad showed up in places he shouldn't be, just like poof, but he never got used to it.

He turned on his heel and Willis was standing by the door, gazing at the hollowed out human head rolled onto the carpet. He didn't seem too alarmed by its appearance but then he was raised by a crime lord and his only child was a crime lord, _clearly_ , there was something wrong with him.

"Dad, what the hell?"

"You ate someone's brain and you're asking _me_ questions?" Willis arched his brows with his usual air of dry humour.

"H - how do you know I-"

"You left a spoon in the head and there's blood down your chin." He gestured to the two things he pointed out then wiped something off Jason's face with his thumb, the blood.

"And as much as I'd like to know what kinda high you get from eating that, I have to prioritise the things I need to talk to you about." Slowly, deliberately, Jason removed his hand, fingers fitting with ease all the way around his wrist and he stared down at him from his foot of vantage height. Exactly what was more of a pressing concern than him being a damn cannibal? _God_ , his dad was fucked in the head.

"Hurry up with your thing 'cause I wanna yell at you about something." Trina. Joe. The dead cousin he was named after, all those needed to be addressed but he could be patient enough to try obey that commandment thingy from Moses' list of to-dos. Honour thy parents? Yeah, that shit. Once a month, he did his dad the courtesy of not cutting him off. 

"Well, Jason," Willis began patiently, "When you was three, we were over at your grandmother's - me, you, Catherine - for something that's not important, and you found one of her cold cash stashes and proceeded to ruin a quarter of a million with drool."

A deep frown took up residence on Jason's face. "I'm sure I didn't and - wait, what's this got to do with anything?"

"If you'd let me get to the point, it will make sense, I _assure_ you." While he spoke, half sarcastic like always, dad shrugged his hoodie off, carelessly onto the floor and rolled the hem of his T-shirt midway up his middle, motioning to what was clearly a bullet scar in his flank. 

"See that? Your grandma wasn't going to punish you for losing her all that money, since you was so little but someone had to bleed a bit, right?" He let his shirt fall and something that tasted like bile sat underneath Jason's tongue while he imagined it. It just hit him that... both him and his dad had had their mothers throw good attempts towards murder (and some succeeded). But Willis was so casual about it....

"So... she's gonna shoot you again for me messing with her?"

"Probably but that's not the point here." He picked his hoodie up again, pulling his arms into the warmth of the sleeves and Jason did try not to focus on the bat-shaped scar on his dad's bicep. It was always a shock to see it there, given how he saw Willis' arms so rarely. The first thing he often paid attention to was that dad's skin was riddled with goosebumps and cold to the touch, which also wasn't anything new. The man always had his arms crossed and _always_ seemed to be shivering.  

"I hate that I have to say this, Jay, but I can't protect you from your grandmother if and when she decides she's not gonna tolerate Red Hood and his cohorts running rampant around on her turf."

"Ma's not gonna kill me, dad." 

"No, but she won't put up with you for much longer."

"Like she didn't put up with Trina?" Jason tried to slide the name in naturally but there was no way to do it. It came out like a broadsword and hit like one too, actually took dad by surprise, and not the good sort. For a second, his eyes searched Jason for any clue as to how he knew of this aunt but his son was unyielding. 

"Who told you about Trina?"

"You did, dad, or at least you shoulda."

With a frustrated exhale, Willis dragged his hands through his hair. He wasn't pleased. Not at all. 

"Jay, did you ever think there's a _reason_ I don't tell you about how fucked up our family is? For instance, if I never told you about any of this, your grandmother wouldn't have a reason to _kill_ you." 

With extreme deliberance, Jason crossed his arms, gaze narrowing to a dangerous sliver of colour. This face worked to intimidate his good-for-nothing siblings but Willis, who was subject to the bat glare on a nearly daily basis, wasn't the least bit phased by it.

"If you never wanted me to know about yet _another_ deceased family member then you shouldn't have _named_ me after your fucking dead nephew."

Their glares intertwined and although he kept up the expression, Jason didn't really understand why dad was so irritated. Now, Willis was easy to annoy but he seldom spent time irritated by his son. But now he was? 

"And do you feel better now that you know?" Dad asked, biting the corner of his lip in exasperation. "Did you really want to know about how your ten-year-old cousin had his legs chewed off by a humanoid crocodile and bled to death in the worst throes of agony imaginable? Or are you more interested in how my _mother_ is responsible for my _sister_ being eaten alive?" His canines were beginning to cut through his skin, a dribble of blood rolling. Jason glanced at it, at him, and made the timely realisation this was a sore subject.

"Dad, let's just drop it, okay? It doesn't matter."

Willis scoffed unevenly, teeth pink. "That's what your grandmother said. To. The. _Letter_." With each word, he gave Jason a jab in the chest with an extended finger. Jason hadn't seen him get wound up like this before.

"And - and I didn't want to tell you because it made _me_ hate Ma, just like Trina did, and if you don't get along with her and play her games, then she might do something that gets you killed." 

"Dad, _chill_." Jason took him by his shoulders, holding him still. He could see it so clearly, that Willis was really, truly afraid the way he said, of... Ma? Hurting Jason?... _Goddammit_. Why couldn't dad have Bruce's emotionless black abysses for eyes? It was so easy to disregard him but Willis made it difficult to deliberately get himself into trouble, all since he had those damn openly worried teal things in his head.

"Let's not talk about Trina, a'ight? I'm sorry I asked. At all. And... If it makes you feel better, I won't interfere with Ma again."

"You _promise_?" Willis pressed, regaining clear headedness enough to ask. Jason made an inward noise of irritation but nodded. It seriously made his heart drop to see his father so worried his own _grandmother_ would harm him.

"Promise."

"Okay, good, thank you." He nodded rapidly, still a little too into his head. "Now why are you eating brains?"

Jason didn't want to reply. Not really and he was actually grateful for the distraction that came in the form of the kitchen window sliding open.

"I'll tell ya later, dad - _Dick_ , get the fuck out!" Jason jogged over to the inching-open window just in time to shove big brother back out.

It was the perfect opportunity to slip into freedom so as not to have to explain brain eating to dad. He wouldn't get it.

* * *

 

" _Ohkay_ ," Jason breathed in a lungful of nicotine, cigarette hanging between his lips, spreading the Iceberg Lounge's stolen blueprints out onto the coffee table. His cousins watched him in silence, some with their arms folded and the others constantly shifting between positions. Isabella sat on the edge of the table, her crutches at hand's reach.

"I've found a new way in. There's a blind spot on the north-west corner-"

" _Actually_ ," Francesca cut in, interrupting everything and Jason looked to her, mildly irritated but he kept it to himself.

"We've talked about this whole thing, Jason, and... It's not smart." She finished her sentence as if she regretted ever starting it but still meant every word. Very slowly, Jason's fingers moved to take the cigarette from his mouth, straightening his back to fix them a set expression.

" _What_?"

Francesca's eyes faltered away momentarily, hand tightening around her upper arm, uncomfortable under the weight of his gaze. Her tongue darted over her lip and she kicked herself to muster an ounce of courage.

"We.... Jason, we've stolen enough turf to be the second biggest gang in Gotham. We don't need to take the risk of getting shot up and killed trying to take the Lounge."

"We won't get _killed_ because I have a plan." Jason told her, enunciating the words with the forcible calmness. After that conversation with his dad, stressing over what Dick would do about his dietary habits and how he was going to redeem his image in the eyes of rival gangs, he wasn't in the mood for cold feet.

"It's not that simple, esé." Diego stepped in. "Isabella could have been killed. The Lounge isn't a great piece of territory, there aren't weapons to take there or anything worthwhile, really. You just want Penguin's HQ to make a statement and that's fine and all, but we're undermanned and someone is going to _die_."

"Sorry, snowflake," Isabella joined in. "We've discussed it, it isn't worth it and neither is getting further on Abuela's bad side. She likes you, she doesn't like _us_."

Jason's teeth set with an audible click.

"You've all... You've _talked_ about this behind my back?" He tried his best not to let any notes of betrayal seep into his voice. He swallowed it all down.

"And you're all bailing on me?"

"It's not like that, Jason," Izzy exhaled. "We just don't want anyone dead. We have what we need, _more_ than we need, let's not push our luck. That last catastrophe was too close."

"Was _not_. I get into scrapes like that every single fucking night. It's nothing."

"Yeah but you're a fucking ninja or some shit." Diego gestured to him, all of him, with a wave of his hand.

"And sort of a zombie. You _eat_ people and that's not a problem but.... What I'm tryna say-"

"-Is that we're normal humans. You're not." Izzy interjected again, coming to her brother's rescue.

"Plus Abuela won't kill you for this, also not a luxury we have. Let's keep what we got and be happy with it. We don't need unnecessary targets on our heads." 

Jason stared at his cousins coldly, trying to visually force them to back out, though by their slightly remorseful but unyielding expressions, they'd made their minds up.

" _Fine_." He bit, lifting his hands off the blueprints with a jerk. The cigarette flew out of his grip, over his shoulder, off to burn some part of his safe house.

"I guess you all have a valid point. You're all gonna get shot up and die and I'm not _so_..."

Izzy and Francesca snapped highly alert eyes to him and burst out in synchrony,

"You _aren't_ going after Penguin on your own!"

"Yeah, forget it, snowflake!"

"Blanco, we will cut your legs off before we let you do something that _stupid_." Tomas finally made his presence vocal with the threat and Jason fully believed it wasn't idle. He also didn't care.

"Penguin, Dent, Sionis, they all want you worse than dead." Francesca went on, dead set serious. "Jay, you got any idea what they'll do if they get hold of you?"

"Bore me to death?" Jason suggested with a nonchalant shrug. Whatever they had to say, these motherfucking backstabbers, he didn't care. He was already loading clips into his guns.

"What if you get captured and get hungry? What if someone like Black Mask finds out about you?" Izzy got off the table, gaining a lean-to from her brother while she stood on her only good leg. The look she cast Jason was murderously to-the-point.

"You know as well as I do that if you're hungry enough, you aren't in control of yourself."

Scoffing, Jason rolled his eyes. So they were experts on his condition now? He was perfectly in charge of himself, he had the reins, not some streak of Pit madness. They were only thinking like this because _one_ time, Jason and his cousins got stuck in collapsed metro tunnels. He didn't remember what happened so well but apparently, Diego had to physically restrain him so he wouldn't eat them. 

 _Bullshit_.

"And if someone like Mask starves you? We don't know if there's a point of no return for you, Jason."

"Isabella, I think that's enough from you tonight." Jason shoved his guns into their rightful places, at his hips, about to leave their company until Diego snatched his arm, fingers curling all the way around his bicep.

"Can't let you go do something stupid, cuz."

Jason's eyes narrowed viciously on him.

"I am going on _patrol_ if that's alright with you." He wrenched his arm free with a jerk, feeling his cousins' staring after as he left, boring holes into his back but he hardly cared.

He didn't need those guys. Red Hood got shit done better alone anyways.

* * *

 

"I'm telling you now, that upstart _boy_ is going to run us into the ground unless we catchpole him. ASAP." 

Listening to Dent ranting, Ma's fingernails curled into her palms, fingers interlocked, holding the half empty crystal whiskey glass on the table in a captive glare. Roman's leather-gloved hand closed around the glass and he took a drink, watching Dent in complete and utter boredom. Penguin was on the edge of his seat, however, clenching and unclenching his fists, gritting his teeth, seething after Jason's attempt on his establishment.

Gotham's crime bosses agreed to set up a meeting and discuss how they would handle their little red hooded problem, but so far no resolve. Ma usually didn't come along to these things but if these people had a plot against her grandson, she wanted to know about it. The stupid fucks surrounding her had no clue their current biggest risk factor was her direct descendent. She made it a point to keep all her kids off the record. Legally, they didn't exist with any ties to her.

"And how do you propose we _catchpole_ him, Harvey?" Glass hovering by, Roman asked in the silky smooth voice that befitted his suave nature. It was an act, Ma had known the man since twisted childhood and long enough to never doubt the ruthlessness beneath the pretence.

"We band together, there's no way that brat can worm his way out."

" _Brilliant_. Except it's been tried. Repeatedly."

"Well, what do you suggest, Sionis?" Both sides of Harvey's face twisted to scowl at Roman while he didn't dignify him with his gaze, instead choosing to watch the ice cubes in the drink.

"Faye," Roman's glass clinked when he set it down, turning himself ever so slightly to Ma.

"I'm curious as to what your opinion on this is?"

The tensing of her muscles was barely visible when he spoke to her, doing her all to hide the disgust he brought up in her.

"My views are the same as yours. Red Hood needs to be put in his place, he's gotten too big for his boots."

"You haven't issued any hits on him." Roman tipped his head a fraction and Ma wasn't blind to what he was doing. He was playing dumb, trying to lead her to say something incriminating as if someone knew there was a connection between her and Jason, it was Black Mask. Unlike Harvey and Oswald, Roman wasn't stupid.

"Because they're ineffective."

"It's true," Harvey chimed in. "I've seen him take a headshot and get back up."

"Can't be anything to do with the helmet." Roman rolled his eyes behind the amber tinted lenses of his mask.

"He's not invulnerable. For instance, his suit is a modified prototype of Nightwing's." While he spoke, Roman went through something on an iPad, which no one saw where he got it from. Quickly, he settled on an image. He slid the device across the table to them, displaying several images of Jason's suit, all with the weak points highlighted.

"You won't get a kill shot through his armour, all those points are shielded too well. Pointless to even try."

"So what do we do? We can't let that little shit rob us blind."

"And we won't." Roman sat back in his chair, crossing his hands, lacing his fingers.

"I have a counter in mind, not one that I'm sharing, however."

"And why is that, Mask?" Oswald leaned closer to him, from across the table that's edge cut into his round belly.

"Because I trust none of you. Oswald, you and Harvey are incompetent and _Faye_ ," his eyes drifted to Ma and set hard like cement.

"You're just untrustworthy."

"Mmh." Ma hummed in agreement with a sly smirk. "I taught you well." Her smile became genuine when she felt Roman glare at her.

"So what?" Harvey cocked a brow, vexed. "We leave everything to you? What gives you the authority on Hood?"

"I know everything there is to know about him." He boldly stated and Ma was indeed intrigued as to what made Roman think he was better versed with her grandson than her.

"And what do you think you know, Roman?" She casually asked, resting her chin on her hand, watching him through her half-moon glasses.

"His name; Jason Todd. His date of birth; August sixteenth. The brat's not even of legal drinking age. His exact height, weight, blood type, etcetera."

"... And how is it you acquired that information?" Ma had a bitter taste in her mouth at any instance this bastard was near her grandchild. Jason was troublesome but she would flay anyone who was dumb enough to lay a hand on him.

"He worked under me a while. I made some observations." There was a smirk in his voice and they wouldn't have dropped the topic if Harvey hadn't spoken up.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, Faye," he pinched the bridge of his nose in thought. "But aren't you related to a Jason Todd?"

"I was." She replied, grim. "My daughter Trina's son shared a name with Hood, but he died, unfortunately. The name is a coincidence, being called Jason isn't a rarity."

"Right, that's true." Harvey nodded, Oswald swallowed it but Roman focused on Ma a little longer than the others. It was difficult to tell what he was thinking when his face was always hidden but it made her uneasy.

"So we have an agreement. The rest of you mind your own business and leave Hood to me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jason, please don't be an idiot.


	3. Hungry Hungry Hood

"You aren't listening!"

"Because you're not making any sense." Bruce murmured dismissively, focusing harder on the paperwork spread across the desk, pen in one hand but he couldn't fill the blank spaces with Dick being such an award-worthy distraction. He just swept into the office like a dust storm, doors slamming, losing his head over the most ridiculous thing voiced since that Damian is possessed by Satan episode. 

"I saw him-"

" _Richard_ , your brother is not a cannibal." 

"Is too!" Dick stomped his foot childishly. "He has a fridge full of heads that he just-"

"Isn't there anywhere else you can be right now?"  

His eldest son - his very most _adult_ son - pouted moodily, glaring daggers at Bruce with his fists drawn into tense balls at his sides.

"Fine. You don't believe me, I'll prove it!" He declared loudly, turning on his heel with a flourish as he headed for the door.

"Good luck," Bruce mumbled to himself as it went unheard by Dick. He continued flicking through sheets of office related paperwork, confident this was the last he was going to hear about this subject. Dick had a short attention span, this would be forgotten by tomorrow when something else caught his eye.

* * *

 

A low growl rumbled up Jason's throat, alight with expectant anticipation as he reached with both hands for the delicious looking head on the shoulders of the man he just shot in the chest. He didn't want to damage the goods, did he? No, no headshots if he planned on eating what he was aiming at. 

Oh, he was so hungry. Seven solid hours of running through Gotham, patrolling his territory tended to work up an appetite, especially given how he fought off a number of Penguin's and Two-Face's thugs. They were trying to get killed by stepping foot where they had no business. But what luck that Jason encountered dinner out here, all the way in the seclusion of Robinson Park.

Did he feel bad about killing just to eat? No. In this case, of course not. Jason knew the list of sex offenders in the area alphabetically, memorised the faces and this guy was out on parole for good behaviour but was it really a coincidence that there was a playground within view of where he found the scum bag lurking? 

Knowing the head belonged to a perverse sicko who deserved death always made food taste better but Jason didn't get his hands around the skull before he noticed something at the furthest corner of his peripheral.  Or _someone_. 

"Fuck off, goldie!" He snapped, stepping back from the corpse fast at the very instant he spotted Dick perched in the branches of the nearby tree, watching him in silence. He had his domino on and their masks came with tiny recording devices built into the lenses. Damn sneaky idiot.

"Don't mind me, Jay," Dick said, adjusting his position slightly while he did. "And I've seen you eat people already so have at it." He gestured to the body and Jason responded with baring his teeth, leering hatefully up at him. How stupid did the favourite boy think he was?

"I _know_ you're filming me, dickface." 

At that fiery retort, Dick's tongue darted over his lips, at a momentary loss now that he was so easily found out. Jason made an irritated huff of annoyance, grinding his teeth together when dinner was clearly off the table. He should have known his idiot brother wouldn't take the warning and back the fuck off, he was too determined to make Jason look even worse in Bruce's eyes to do that. 

If the Bats got wind of his dietary habits, they'd never let him out of Arkham again. Sure, bio-dad seemed to be okay with it but he was fucked in the head as bad as the cousins were. This was normal for him. 

"Dick, fuck off or I'll...." Jason trailed off before the threat of 'I'll eat you' because that's exactly the kind of hook big brother was hoping for. It was so obvious, in fact, that Dick tensed in anticipation for the moment Jason might finish that sentence with the incriminating threat.

Growling to himself, pissed at having his hands tied, Jason took off with an overbearing sense of annoyance both at Dick and having to leave perfectly good food to spoil in the park, but this was the smarter choice as opposed to Bruce and his clan of perfect asses finding out this dirty little secret.

Jason was hungry but he'd go somewhere else to eat, it was simple and Dick didn't put such a huge dent in his plans for the evening... that is, if the golden boy had possessed the decency to mind his own business after that interaction in the park. But of course, he didn't and proceeded to be Jason's shadow all over Gotham that night. Try as he might to lose the unwanted company, Dick clung onto him like a leech, waiting for a second of weakness where Jason would slip up and prove that fact he was so desperately trying to make known. 

Run as fast as he might, he couldn't get away. Dick was faster than him and there was no way in hell Jason was hiding from him.

So since he couldn't eat with literal big brother watching him like a hawk in the distance, Jason decided to put his own brain to use and began plotting how he and his cousins would - no, not them since they bailed on him. He was in this without back up and all the better, he'd really been getting tired of someone having his back and receiving validation from them, aid the second he needed it, additional gunfire, his methods not being frowned upon.... he didn't need any of those, alright? Didn't miss it one bit.

Through the night vision that his helmet came with, Jason busied himself by spying on grandma from the reasonably comfortable perch of laying lengthwise across the sturdy branch of an oak tree, overlooking the living room window. Ma's compound, school, manor, whatever she would consider it, it was an intimidating stone structure surrounded by an inner garden and tall impenetrable rock walls that kept what she did here a secret. Well, impenetrable unless you climbed it and managed it past her defence system.

Oaks and topiaries in need of a trimming dotted the surrounding grounds, it was unlikely she would see him in the one tree that he chose to be his cover. The branches were thick, dense, leaving him to survey her through a wall of leaves swaying in the gentle breeze. 

Folding his arms before him and resting his chin on them, Jason remained in silence, listening to the wind while he watched Ma doing nothing harmful for once, counting the tiny loops of colourful string as they crossed her knitting needles. She was making a scarf or mittens or something. Jason didn't know for sure, he wasn't the authority on these things. Grandma sat on the cushioned window seat, falling perfectly and unbeknown into her grandson's line of sight.

Soft golden light shone out onto the lawn from the building, illuminating what the streetlights couldn't and it looked so warm and comfortable in there. Jason drew himself into a tighter mass as cold seeped without resistance through the susceptible leather of his jacket, the last thing he should be wearing in this chilly weather. It provided no warmth, protection, or practical use for that matter. Sometimes, he wondered why he bothered wearing it at all. 

At this distance, outside looking in, Jason found it easier to fantasise over having a normal family. A grandmother who wasn't a mortal threat to her children and their children, a dead cousin he wasn't named for, this whole curse that seemed to hang above the head of everyone born to this bloodline. Those were dreams similar to what he used to experience as a small kid before he was introduced to the hell storm the world really was. 

It was nice to picture but impossible, if you were to survive in Gotham then you needed teeth you were willing to bite with.

Speaking of, that along with the low rumble from his stomach reminded Jason of how hungry he was getting but a glance from the corner of his eye let him know he couldn't satisfy that urge, not with you know who sitting on the wall, face turned into his direction. Hopefully, his eyesight was good enough to catch the death glare he was given. 

Maybe if Jason went home and filled himself with his emergency rations? Or would Dick follow him there, too? Fuck, he made everything harder than it needed to be.  Jason was just hungry, he wanted to eat, nothing more sinister but big brother made such a scene about everything and got in the way.

Fucking idiot.

Jason searched his pockets and rummaging lead him to a half-eaten roll of mentos.  He popped a couple and sucked the flavour out of them, hoping to trick his head into thinking he had devoured what his body demanded. It never worked but worth a try, right? 

He needed to try whatever to keep the monster in him at bay. If he got ravenous, no one was safe. Too bad Dick didn't know that. Jason didn't owe him a word of explanation, all he had to know was nothing. It was none of his business.

An uneventful hour went by and it was starting to look like Ma was making mittens. How _interesting_. Dick was still there and it was getting to the point that unless Jason lost him and ate, he'd snap. 

So here's the plan, Ma would take care of Dick for her grandson, just neither one of them knew it yet.

From his holster, Jason relinquished a throwing star and narrowed his eyes against the dark, searching the encompassing walls until he spotted the thin cable discreetly running the length of the stone. He followed it to the motion detector and in one sharp movement, sent the star flying towards it.

The alarm _howled_. Dick wasn't expecting it, the fright he got was astronomical and not to mention fucking _hilarious_. Jason tried not to choke on a laugh when big brother fell off his perch on the wall, hitting the ground beneath it with a solid thunk and a pained noise when the wind was knocked out of his lungs. It caught him so off guard that he didn't manage to put his legendary agility to good use and catch himself. Poor baby.

Jason pressed a fist against his smile when grandma came out almost at once, brandishing her shotgun and a sour expression. Stiffly, wincing, Dick was just picking himself up when Ma kicked him beneath the chin and snapped his head back with a yelp. 

"What the bloody hell are you doing here?" She demanded, grabbing a fistful of his hair and mercilessly twisting it around her fist. He whined in pain, on his knees with a shotgun muzzle shoved into his throat. Haha, grandma was such a badass to get Nightwing like that so effortlessly.

"J - just looking for Jason, ma'am." Dick grit, desperate, eyes shut against the burn of having strands of his hair pulled out. His muscles were trembling, much to Ma's disinterest. 

"My grandson isn't here." She snapped and pushed the gun into him deeper. Dick whimpered.

"Yes, he is. He - he's up there." He motioned to the oak tree Jason had been laying in and he glanced up at it, heart dropping since the branches were empty. No little wing. Shit. He took off, didn't he? Backstabbing bitch. 

Staring at the vacated tree for only a moment, Ma's gaze returned to him as a scowl. It was _terrifying_. Compared to his grandmother, Jason  - murdering, brain-eating gang lord Jason - was fucking cuddly.

"You're trespassing, sugar. I'm within my rights to shoot you." Now grinning like the devil himself, Ma lowered herself onto her knees, at his height, dropping her hand from his hair to dig her nails into his face as she held it in place. Fight or flight kicked in long since and the latter was definitely the victor of the urges.

"But there are many things I'd rather do with a pretty thing like you, caramelo." Her nails dug deeper with the chilling undertow, Dick had never been so afraid in his life, something in her borderline psychopathic eyes that looked like grey storm clouds scared him more than her implied threat. Everything but the need to get away became irrelevant. 

"I don't want to catch you on my property again. If I do, you won't like what I'll do." At last, she released the grip he could have broken on his own and without wasting his time, he rose to his feet and backed away, mumbling out all the necessary sorrys and thank yous. He didn't dare lift his head to make eye-contact.

With her devil's gaze boring holes into his back, Dick bolted back up the wall he fell down and vanished over it as quick as his limbs could make him. His heart raced in his ears but not because of the running across rooftops or adrenaline rush. He just couldn't believe he wasn't killed back there. Thank fuck Jason was only 25% his grandmother and thus could never fully be as terrifying as her.

Speaking of Jason, that little... brother, Dick raced through Gotham trying to catch his trail again but for all intents and purposes, he right good vanished. Knowing Jason, he found a rock to hide under until the coast was clear but Dick was persistent to catch him in the act. If he could get Bruce to believe Jason ate brains, they could get to the bottom of why he was doing it. It wasn't normal. There were all sorts of health risks and side effect involved with that such as kuru, a terminal sickness with symptoms like headaches, joint pain, shaking, loss of balance, deterioration of speech, and decreased muscle control. Things nobody wanted, much less a vigilante. 

What fucked up thing came into Jason's head the day he decided he would become a cannibal? It hurt to say but out of all his siblings, Jason is the one Dick could have expected this from. Tim was on a strict coffee and fruit loops diet while the only nourishment Damian required were the souls of the innocent.

Looking high and low didn't turn up so much as a flash of the red bat and Dick decided to search the last place he could think of. He had a vague idea of where he could find Jason's dad and that was at his usual hang out for this hour; the harbour. It was an odd place to spend hours at a time but that was often what Willis did, just stood by the waterfront and stared out at the stormy ocean distance.

That's where Dick found him, off in a dissociated world of his own while nightfall blackened everything and a cold wind from the north ruffled his clothing but he didn't seem to notice. Sometimes, when Dick was deep amidst a task, he couldn't help but pull a dead stop and ask himself what the hell was wrong with Jason's father? If left to his own devices for even ten menial minutes with nothing to occupy him, the man would often backtrack to somewhere else in his head and just stare off into nothingness. Now, spacing out or dissociating itself was not unusual but the way he did it exceeded the normal distance a person could wander from the moment.

It took Dick lightly hitting him on the arm for him to snap out of it and notice he wasn't alone.

"Uh, hey, kid." Willis rubbed at his eyes with the backs of his hands when the mystery trance broke.

"Whatcha doing here?" He blinked slowly at Dick when he faced him and it couldn't be more obvious that he was tired out of his head. Why was he up at this hour anyway?

"You seen Jay?"

"Not for a few hours. He took off on me."

"Me too." Dick shrugged. Jason had zero manners, vanishing like that.

"Has... Has Jason done anything weird lately?" He cautiously inquired, _very_ cautiously since Willis doubtfully would believe him about Jason's eating habits but he was more likely to than Bruce. Unlike daddy bats, Willis was aware enough to not put anything past his son.

"Weird for _him_? No. Mildly troubling? Yes." Willis turned back to the ocean, staring in silence for a while before he continued.

".... I think my son is a cannibal."

It was true but Dick was taken aback at how easily he said that. But yes! Someone else knew about Jason's activities when he was alone. This would make it easier to convince Bruce, especially once he had video evidence. Little wing couldn't hide forever, sooner or later Dick would find him again.

"I saw him eating brains too. You got any idea why?"

"Maybe he gets some sort of high?" Willis shrugged his shoulders, disturbingly unbothered.

"Or maybe the heightened quantities of protein and amino acids in the human brain boost his muscle mass build up more efficiently."

"Uh, I dunno," Dick rubbed the back of his neck. He hadn't thought of that but it didn't seem right.

"Jay's already pretty jacked. He does fine making himself buff without... Fucking brain matter protein dishes."

"What's your theory then?"

"I was thinking... Could it be tied to him technically being a zombie? He gets so, so mad when he's hungry. Aggressive, _violent_. Like, I was on a mission with him once that dragged out a week longer than expected, in the Sahara. I woke up in the middle of the night to him looming over me with all evil eyes. Jason fucking bit me like he wanted to eat me."

"Well, he is prone to nibbling on people, been doing it ever since he got teeth.".... _What_? Sometimes kids bit people, that wasn't so unusual but surely Willis didn't think it was one and the same to do it now?

"Jay snapped out of whatever was wrong with him pretty fast," Dick went on, "and we got outta here the next morning but he was really off, growling and shit."

Willis cocked his brows, only mildly surprised. Again Dick asked himself what was wrong with this guy? Every reaction came with the bare most minimum emotion.

"Did Wayne comment on Jay biting you? Or trying to."

"Bruce doesn't know. I didn't wanna make Jason feel like a freak over nothing but now I'm really worried about him."

Willis watched Dick from the corner of his eye, searching him for sincerity for a beat and he must have found it because he said,

"Check his cousins' places for him. I'll give you the addresses."

* * *

 

Fuck, Jason was so hungry that if Dick were still tailing him, he might actually eat the guy. A primordial instinct was festering and building in him but he just needed to get some food and he'd be fine. He could tame this.

A low consistent growl rumbled up his throat while he scoured the city, desperate for a meal. His safe house was too far away when he was at this stage.

He was getting worried but then there in the alley was a miracle. By luck, he spied who was undoubtedly one of Black Mask's men, suit, gimp mask and all. He was alone, waiting around for something while he glanced around himself, anxious.

Jason didn't ask why he was there by himself or what he waited for, he was too hungry for basic sense to ask him any of those vital questions. No, he couldn't pounce fast enough, dying to crack that skull and get to its delicious contents already.

Lunging onto him with a terrifying loud growl, Jason didn't get a knife or gun, too much in a hurry and with one powerful thrust of his arm, caved the man's head in against the brick wall before he could even scream.

In the next few seconds, Jason was stuffing handfuls of squidgy bloody brains into his mouth faster than he could swallow. He was just so hungry, he had to silence the starving monster in him, battling for control over it.

Over his rapid chewing and painfully hard gulps, he didn't hear the approaching footsteps just meters away.

"Jesus _fuck_." Someone gasped in horror and Jason looked up sharply, lower face covered in blood. Surrounding him were another ten of Mask's thugs. Where did they all come from?

"The boss was fucking serious." Another panted past disgust, gun shaking in his hand as he pointed it at Jason. Jason hissed, lip curled back viciously. Lightning fast, he darted to his feet and got ready to put them all six feet under.

But then a net fell over him. Were they serious? Trying to snare him like a fucking fish? Jason began violently tearing it off himself but with a sudden buzz as the only warning, hundreds of volts of live electricity burst through the wire, directly through him.

Fuck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sigh....


End file.
